Prince William and Prince Harry began having a strained relationship before Meghan Markle came into the picture, a royal author has claimed.
The brothers’ relationship has reportedly become more strained since Harry stepped back from royal life in 2020.
According to author of The Palace Papers Tina Brown, their relationship started showing cracks before Harry met Meghan.
William and Harry
Ms Brown appeared on Lorraine today and said: “There were real cracks [before Meghan] that were happening which surprised me actually.
Read more: Prince Harry ‘to take big measure’ to ‘mend rift’ with Prince William
“There’s common wisdom that Meghan broke up the brothers, that’s actually unfair.
“She reinforced it if you like. Harry and William had begun to have a growing distance between them because Harry was so happy in the army.
“He had 10 amazing years, served his country, went twice to Afghanistan. It was a great success, his whole military career.”
Ms Brown continued: “But when he came out he felt a bit lost. He kind of rattled around while his brother was now set on the path for kingship.
“William was now being groomed to be king, his destiny was clear, his path was clear.
“At that point, the memo really hit [Harry] that he was number two and he was going to be treated like number two.
“He began to feel marginalised.”
The author said that when Harry launched his Invictus Games, it was a “superstar moment” for him.
She said: “He realised, ‘I can do this myself, I have my own power base.’
“And it was at that point that he met Meghan and she reinforced that sense for him, that there was a bigger, wider world out there than being the number two brother who had to wait in line for the royal assignments.”
Prince Harry news
Reports recently claimed that Harry is looking at ways to mend his relationship with William.
Royal expert Katie Nicholl said the Duke of Sussex might get a mediator in to sort talks with his brother and father, Prince Charles.
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Ms Nicholl told Entertainment Tonight: “Harry, I’m told, suggested perhaps that they might get some sort of a mediator in on sort of these talks, to make some progress.
“It was something that he had suggested to his father. He’s made it very clear that he wants to sort things out.”
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